Monitor on Psychology - October 2011 - (Page 12)
Upfront Ready, set, mentor For the third year, APA offered its popular speed-mentoring program at the 2011 Annual Convention. Based on a speed-dating model, speed mentoring is a lively interactive session that allows about 200 early career psychologists and graduate students to interact with more experienced, distinguished psychologists. The speed mentoring event offers a tremendous opportunity for networking and shared learning in an interesting and innovative setting. At the event, mentors are stationed throughout the room and meet with mentees for 12 minutes to discuss the biggest challenges they faced in their career and how they met these challenges. They also answer mentees’ questions. At the end of the 12-minute period, a signal is given and the groups of mentees rotate to the next mentor station. Attention students and ECPs: Self-care is an ‘ethical imperative’ Graduate students and early career psychologists have a lot to juggle. Huge debt. Academic demands. Working to launch their careers. Possibly starting a family. Yet too few students and new psychologists recognize the stress they are under and fail to make self-care a priority, said speakers at the APA Annual Convention symposium “When Self-Care and Real World Collide for Students and Early Career Psychologists.” “As graduate students and early career psychologists, I think there’s a tendency to postpone self-care,” said Leigh A. Carter, of Loyola University in Maryland. “People think, ‘I’ll do self-care later after internship, after I’m licensed, after I start a practice.’” But research shows not taking care of yourself can lead to stress, distress, even burnout — and that can undermine your professional competence. So self-care is not just essential to yourself, it’s essential to your clients and work colleagues. “It’s an ethical imperative — and it really needs to start in graduate school,” said Carter. And it’s more than that occasional meal with family and friends, said speakers. You’ve got to establish a self-care lifestyle. That means the obvious, like good sleep, nutrition and exercise, but also building your support networks at home and work, seeking out peer support groups, developing your hobbies and even doing volunteer work and seeking psychotherapy. Experiment with what works for you. “Self-care is not a one-size-fits-all model,” said Carter. “It should not be a unique or infrequent practice, but rather a life-long habit.” —S. MARTIN Lloyd Wolf Dr. Pat DeLeon, right, coaches a mentee at this year’s speed mentoring program. 12 To watch an excerpt of this convention session from APA’s continuing education office, click here. MONITOR ON PSYCHOLOGY • OCTOBER 2011
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